LIGO Measures Strain, Not Black Holes
Interferometer readout, control-system reconstruction, calibration, detector networks, waveform inference, and the precise distinction between measured strain and inferred source parameters.
ASTROPHYSICS / ACTIVE DEPARTMENT
OBSERVATION BEFORE SPECTACLE.
Orbital mechanics, compact objects, gravitational-wave measurement, instrumentation, SETI, archival reanalysis, and the uncomfortable gap between what an instrument records and what a model later infers.
ACTIVE SETI PROGRAM3 NEW FIELD GUIDESOPEN RESEARCH QUEUE
CURRENTLY PUBLISHED
Start with the measurement.
Astrophysics here is built around what the instrument actually produces, which assumptions turn that output into a physical claim, and how the approximation fails when the real system refuses to remain a classroom diagram.
Orbital Energy Is a Sanity Check
Specific orbital energy, vis-viva, escape, semimajor axis, maneuvers, perturbations, historical reconstruction, and the limits of pretending the universe is a permanent two-body problem.
Measurement versus inference
A durable distinction for astronomy and everything else: what the instrument reported versus what calibration, models, geometry, and assumptions added afterward.
MEASUREMENT / ORBITS / SIGNAL KINEMATICS
Three routes through indirect evidence.
The new Astrophysics field-guide run follows the measurement chain from instrument output through physical inference, then uses orbital energy and radio Doppler geometry as compact sanity checks against stories that outrun the observable.
FIELD GUIDE 001 / GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
LIGO Measures Strain, Not Black Holes
What the interferometer actually records, how calibration reconstructs strain, how detector networks add geometry, and where source masses, spins, distance, and sky position enter through inference.
Read measurement guide → FIELD GUIDE 002 / ORBITAL MECHANICSOrbital Energy Is a Sanity Check
Use ε = v²/2 − μ/r to classify the ideal trajectory, connect state vectors to semimajor axis and escape, and identify when maneuvers or perturbations invalidate long-baseline extrapolation.
Read orbital guide → FIELD GUIDE 003 / SETI KINEMATICSFrequency Drift Is Geometry Before It Is Meaning
Doppler shift, normalized drift, radial acceleration, Earth motion, transmitter dynamics, clocks, historical spacecraft ephemerides, RFI rejection, recurrence graphs, and predictive archive backsearch.
Read SETI signal guide →ACTIVE PROGRAM
SETI / Open Instrument Network
Cyberdelia's SETI work is organized as reproducible astrophysics: source acquisition, historical reconstruction, archival reanalysis, long-baseline recurrence analysis, and explicit separation between data, inference, terrestrial interference, and unresolved residue.
Wow! signal reconstruction
Rebuild the observation from best-available historical records, receiver context, timing, sky geometry, later searches, and preserved source material before arguing about meaning.
Long-baseline recurrence engine
Aggregate detections across time, instruments, sky positions, frequencies, drift behavior, and known satellite geometry, then backsearch old archives against physically constrained recurrence hypotheses.
OPEN QUESTIONS
The queue exists because certainty is expensive.
Detector output versus astrophysical reconstruction
Trace calibration, noise treatment, model assumptions, and parameter estimation from measurement to claim.
Where orbital intuition breaks
Move beyond circular-orbit intuition into eccentric systems, perturbations, maneuvers, drag, and real ephemeris history.
Uncertainty in indirect observation
Explain how strong evidence can still depend on layered inference without collapsing into either blind certainty or performative skepticism.